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Walruses
and Carpenters in Los Angeles, San Francisco,
and Seattle Pick Best West Coast Wines for
Oysters
"Oysters
come and walk with us!."
Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll
SEATTLE: Thirty-seven oyster-loving food
and wine writers, restaurateurs, oyster
growers and oyster lovers at-large have
selected ten equal winners from 20 finalist
wines in the 2007 Pacific Coast Oyster Wine
Competition, a popular annual dating service
to find the best West Coast wine matches
for oysters. Three Oregon and seven California
white wines, including five crisp Sauvignon
Blancs, three bright, refreshing Pinot Gris,
a dry Chenin Blanc and a crisp, unoaked
Chardonnay prevailed over 185 entries in
the only wine competition to judge a wine
by how it goes with a food.
Taylor Shellfish Farms of Shelton, WA, sponsor
of the Competition, is pleased to congratulate
the 2007 Oyster Award winners:
Brassfield Estate Winery 05 Sauvignon Blanc
(CA)
Dry Creek Vineyard 05 Sonoma County Fume
Blanc (CA)
**Dry Creek Vineyard 06 Dry Chenin Blanc
(CA)
**Geyser Peak Winery 06 Sauvignon Blanc
(CA)
Hall 06 Sauvignon Blanc (CA)
**Kenwood Vineyards 06 Sauvignon Blanc (CA)
*King Estate Winery 05 Signature Pinot Gris
(OR)
*Martin & Weyrich Winery 06 Unwooded
Chardonnay (CA)
Sweet Cheeks Winery 06 Pinot Gris (OR)
*Willamette Valley Vineyards 06 Pinot Gris
(OR)
*Prior "Oyster Award" Winner
**Multiple prior "Oyster Awards"
Few wines go with oysters, a vibrant combination
of minerals, sweetness and the sea. That
is why the Competition identifies, on an
annual basis, a group of great "oyster
wines" that restaurants can offer with
oysters on the half shell, an increasingly
popular menu item. The Competition is organized
by its founder, Jon Rowley.
Taylor Shellfish Farms invited West Coast
wineries to submit their best "oyster
wines", typically dry, crisp, clean-finishing
white wines. Each wine is blind tasted with
a Kumamoto oyster. The judge chews the oyster
well, then smells and tastes the wine, then
rates the "bliss factor", the
wine's affinity for the oyster. In a weeklong
Preliminary Judging at Anthony's HomePort
at Shilshole Bay in Seattle, five veteran
Preliminary Judges consumed 1200 Kumamoto
oysters in narrowing the contenders to 35
semi-finalists and then 20 finalists. The
20 finalists were tasted with oysters by
panels of 12-13 judges April 24 at the Water
Grill in Los Angeles, April 25 at One Market
Restaurant in San Francisco and April 26
at Anthony's HomePort at Shilshole Bay in
Seattle.
Some
of the competition judges claim they have
the best job in all of food and wine. The
Walrus and Carpenter never had it so good.
"I wait all year for this", says
long time Los Angeles judge, LA Weekly restaurant
critic and 2007 Pulitzer winner, Jonathan
Gold.
With oysters on the half shell enjoying
fast-growing nationwide popularity, Oyster
Award winners receive immediate and substantial
sales benefits and publicity. Oyster lovers
and a growing list of North American restaurants
serving oysters await the Competition results.
"Oyster Award" winning wineries
enjoy immediate sales results. North American
restaurants serving oysters await the Competition
results. Taylor Shellfish Farms has been
gratified to see oysters become part of
the winery cultures at many of the winning
wineries. 2007 Oyster Award winners will
be featured at a special oyster and wine
event Friday June 8 at
the Monterey Wine Festival
www.montereywine.com.
"The search for wines to go with oysters
adds to the excitement and culture of oysters",
says Bill Taylor, president of Taylor Shellfish
Farms. "The acclaim by the wine and
restaurant industries as well as the media
makes it lots of fun for everyone."
Taylor Shellfish Farms is a fourth generation
family owned company producing Manila clams,
Mediterranean mussels, geoduck, and five
species of oysters for national and international
markets. For information on Taylor Shellfish
Farms go to www.taylorshellfishfarms.com.
For further information on the Pacific Coast
Oyster Wine Competition go to www.oysterwine.com
or contact Jon Rowley rowley@nwlink.com
206-963-5959.
2007
FINALS JUDGES
LOS
ANGELES
Lou Amdur, Proprietor, Lou's Wine Bar
Peter Birmingham, Sommelier, Il Grano
Bob Blumer, aka The Surreal Gourmet
Jonathan Gold, Restaurant Critic, LA Weekly;
2007 Pulitzer for Criticism
Stacie Hunt, NPR Wine Journalist
Steven Infield, Manager, Water Grill
Mary Sue Milliken, Chef/Owner, Border Grill
and Ciudad restaurants, cookbook author,
radio and TV personality
Russ Parsons, Food Writer, Los Angeles Times;
Author
Dan Fredman, Dan Fredman P. R. & Marketing
William Rice, Contributing Editor, Sante
Tim McDonald, Wine Spoken Here
El Don Turner, Food & Lifestyle Editor,
Estylo Magazine
SAN FRANCISCO
Jon Bonne, Wine Editor, San Francisco Chronicle
Jerry DiVecchio, Writer, food-wine-life
Michael Dunne, Food Editor, Wine Columnist,
Restaurant Critic, Sacramento Bee
John Finger, President, Hog Island Oyster
Co.
Gilian Handelman, Wine & Spirits Magazine;
Paul Marcus Wines
Millie Howie, Wine Writer
Michele Anna Jordan, Press Democrat; Wine
Enthusiast; "Mouthful" KRCB-FM
Jan Newberry, Senior Editor, San Francisco
Magazine
Robert Thompson, Wine Writer
John Hulihan, Director of Beverage and Service,
Lark Street Restaurant Group
Steve Pitcher, Contributing Editor, Wine
News
Eric Quanstrom, Director of Marketing, Appellation
America
Tim TeichGraeber, Wine Writer; San Francisco
Chronicle; Minneapolis Star-Tribune; Cooking
Pleasures
SEATTLE
Angela Allen, Freelance Writer
Tom Arthur, Senior Manager, Elliott's Oyster
House
*David Bailey, Consulting Sommelier
Shannon Borg, Lifestyle Editor, Seattle
Magazine
*Chuck Hill, Wine Writer; Author; Publisher,
Joy of Oysters
*Doug King, Metropolitan Market-Sand Point,
Wine Steward; Anthony's Oyster Games Hall
of Fame
Richard Kinssies, Proprietor, Wine Outlet;
Wine Columnist, Seattle P.I.
*Dan McCarthy, Proprietor, McCarthy &
Schiering Wine Merchants
Craig Miller, "Wine Guy", Top
Foods
Bill Taylor, President, Taylor Shellfish
Farms
*Gerry Warren, Judging Committee Chair,
Seattle Wine Society
Oyster Bill Whitbeck, Taylor Shellfish Farms;
co-author, Joy of Oysters
*Preliminary Judge
"Oysters
are a celebration.romantic, sexy, luminous.
The right wine makes them even more so."
Sheila Lukins
As I ate the oysters with their strong taste
of the sea and their faint metallic taste
that the cold white wine washed away, leaving
only the sea taste and the succulent texture,
and as I drank their cold liquid from each
shell and washed it down with the crisp
taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling
and began to be happy and to make plans."
"A
Good Café on the Place St. Michel"
from A Moveable Feast
by Ernest Hemingway
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